The 49ers are officially done. Our season is over. No hopes for a Super Bowl, no hopes for the NFC championship. Very little hope for even a playoff berth.
It is so sad to see one of the greatest teams ever assembled slowly turn into a hospital. Injuries have been our greatest opponent this year, with basically our whole team on IR. Our healthiest wide receiver was shot just a couple months ago! Although many teams have injured star players, none have it as bad as the San Francisco 49ers. With Brandon Auyik tearing both his ACL and MCL during Sunday’s game against the Chiefs and Deebo Samual hospitalized due to pneumonia, and Juan Jennings suffering from a foot injury, all of our top wide receivers are out, and responsibility falls on our first round pick from the draft, Ricky Pearsal.
To have any chance for a playoff berth this year, this Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys is a must win. Not only is this a rivalry game, if we lose this game, we will be dead-last in our division, making a playoff berth extremely difficult to manage. Junior Nico Rivera says: “I have honestly lost hope in this team. It’s just not our year.” Many of the 49ers faithful are frustrated with how this season has gone, and are already looking forward to next year’s draft. Many believe it is in the team’s best interest to continue losing games and get a very high draft pick for next year, and come back strong and healthy. Junior Henry Dixon says: “Why can’t we just tank and get a top dog in the draft. Get some good weapons for Purdy to sling it to. Upgrade our defense and special teams maybe.”
David’s Keys to the Game:
- Special teams needs to make special plays
- We need our special teams to start making plays both on returns and kickoffs / punts.
- Build off the run game
- Establish a run game with Jordan Mason, then build off that
- Give Purdy time
- The o-line has to step up, and allow rookie receivers to get open